Rikki-Lee Armitage, 32 and Sarah Cramp, 20 of Tauranga were among the 300 Little Shop lovers that swarmed the Brookfield New World store yesterday. Photo/ George Novak
Rikki-Lee Armitage, 32 and Sarah Cramp, 20 of Tauranga were among the 300 Little Shop lovers that swarmed the Brookfield New World store yesterday. Photo/ George Novak
Mini groceries created a frenzy at New World stores around the Bay yesterday, with thousands swarming the businesses to add to their Little Shop collections.
New World stores in Brookfield, Mount Maunganui, Gate Pa and Te Puke held Little Shop trade-ins from 3.30pm, allowing customers to bring in their extramini grocery items to swap for the ones they needed to compete their collections.
The Little Shop promotion, which started on September 2, is part of New World's 50th birthday celebrations. For every $40 spent, customers received a toy-sized copy of one of 44 popular New Zealand grocery items, including Marmite, Watties' spaghetti and Tip Top icecream. The miniatures have become so popular people have taken to swapping and selling them online to get the whole set, with some full sets selling for hundreds of dollars.
There is already talk of a second series, but yesterday's crowd at Brookfield was focused on completing their current collections, with close to 400 lining up to take part over two hours. Staff at other stores also reported huge crowds.
The Brookfield store staff were forced to direct traffic away from the all ages crowd, which was so large it flooded into the carpark.
The majority of people claimed they were collecting for their children, but a few honest adults admitted they were addicted to the teeny toys.
Tauranga student Sarah Cramp said she planned on turning hers into magnets for the fridge.
"Being a poor student I don't often spend $40 on groceries at once, so I have been going around to my parents' and friends' places and taking theirs," the 20-year-old said.
"They are just so adorable, so tiny. You can see why everyone has fallen in love with them. They have definitely become one of my sneaky, guilty pleasures.
"And who knows, they could be worth thousands in 50 years."
Welcome Bay resident Anna Worth said her family had not shopped at any other store during the promotion and now owned three full collections.
"I have five children, so we go through quite a lot of food, however, I shudder to think how much I would have spent to get these things. Just think, a minimum of $40 for 44 items ... that's $1760 each collection!"
